A CENTRAL fire service control room will receive £37m of taxpayers’ cash – despite being condemed as a waste of money by politicians.

Plans for the Warrington-based call centre, which would merge Merseyside, Greater Manchester, Cheshire, Lancashire and Cumbria’s control rooms, were shelved by the Tories after a computer system failed to work.

But Merseyside fire and rescue service has forged ahead with a “plan B” to close its Kirkdale control centre and move into the mothballed site on Lingley Mere business park, in Great Sankey.

A fire authority report today revealed it has persuaded ministers to cough up £36.7m to fund a local version of the project and pay for the empty building’s £1.2m-a-year maintenance until it is ready in 2014.

The department for communities and local government will then pay two-thirds of the rent for the rest of the lease.

The move would allow Merseyside fire service to make £400,000 savings in its first year of operation compared with the current system.